As someone who recently fell in love with Leo Babauta’s work, I decided to venture further along the path of figuring out what makes me happy. On both his minimalism blog and his simple productivity blog, Leo does an excellent job of outlining simple practices that can improve one’s overall happiness.
Ironically, many people think that having an extreme amount of money, being better looking, and being famous will make them happy. However, that’s not even close to being true. The public perception of happiness is becoming skewed and it’s time to re-evaluate. Going back to one of my earlier points, as one of my favorite humor sites said, fame, wealth, beauty, extreme intelligence, and power will not make you happy. Here, then are three ways I’ve learned to enjoy life a little bit more.
LIVE IN THE MOMENT. A big cause of stress is thinking about the past and future. I do it all the time and from what my friends have said, they do it too. I’ll get worried about a test I have in a few days, a deliverable I have to get done for a client, or how I haven’t talked to my family in three weeks (sorry, Mom! I’ll call you eventually, I swear!). However, there’s a way to mitigate the stress of thinking about the future and the past: focus on the NOW. There are a few ways this can be accomplished, but I like to do the following: Close my eyes for 10 seconds and focus on my breathing. This is a very common trait of meditation, and it works great! Additionally, if I’m walking down the street I focus on my surroundings: the trees, the buildings, the crazy people running down the street, whatever keeps me focused on the present situation.
READ A COMIC EVERY MORNING. Waking up can be brutal. Maybe it’s snowing, maybe you stayed up late the previous night, maybe it’s just one of those days. What better way get through a rough start to the day than by laughing? Every morning before I get out of bed, I reach to my laptop and open up my Internet browser to a daily comic (Garlfield and Dilbert are my preferences). This little habit has helped me relax more in the morning. Developing this habit will improve your mood and increases the enjoyment you carry throughout the day. Personally, I think checking the news in the morning is a waste of time and a horrible start to the day. Many of the news headlines are depressing; deaths, war, and money market crashes are some of the more recent headlines I’ve seen. As Thomas Jefferson so adequately put it, “I do not take a single newspaper, nor read one a month, and I feel myself infinitely the happier for it.” Avoid the news in the morning and replace it with comics.
SPEND MORE TIME EATING MEALS. Time with friends is precious, but we’re so often distracted that we rarely give our friends full attention. One of the more creative and better ways around this is to eat a long meal with friends. By putting away your phone, sitting down at a table with a few friends, and chowing down on food you’re giving and getting the proper amount of attention. The time on this needs to be significant as well: spending 20 minutes on a meal, while an impressive eating feat, will not allow you the proper amount of time to enjoy the time spent with friends. The meal, at minimum, should be an hour and a half. This way, you and your friends have enough time to focus on each other without any distractions. You’ll probably learn a few new things about your friends, too! Mix it up every week to two weeks; add new friends to the mix, do a smaller dinner with only one or two friends, and enjoy!
What other ways do you try to enjoy life?
Hi Dave
just loved what you wrote here. You’re so right about everything 😉
I’ll definitely try that comic thing. You know Gary Larson? Until recently there was one comic every morning in our newspaper. Always had to laugh about them. But it was in a newspaper so. There always were sad stories in it.
Two years ago I started to give time instead of gifts to my closest friends and family. Usually we go out to have a nice long dinner like you describe it. Only the two of us. And its great. From my point of view time is one of the best things to give away to the people you love.
With the work in the kitchen I have always noise, people and things going on around me. When I’m at home I usually listen to music, watch a movie or am just talking to someone. And it is good, I like it, I mean, I love music, films, friends but from time to time a good thing to do is go out into the nature, doesn’t have to be miles away from civilisation but just the nature. Maybe into the woods. And listen to the wind, the birds, the leafes and the animals if there are any. Remember what nature gives to us.
Keep on writing stuff like that and I’ll keep on reading and commenting.
Sebastian
Hey Sebastian!
Great to hear from you; thanks for checking out my blog. I have heard of Gary, yeah. His Far Side comic is great! Like you said, however, reading comics in the newspaper is a bit tough with the depressing stories. That’s the primary reason I look at my comics online now every morning. That’s especially nice of you to give time; time is such a valuable asset! I always prefer spending time with friends over giving gifts. Long dinners are also highly underrated; those dinners you, Sara, Jenn, Blaine and I had in Europe last year were great! Incredibly enjoyable and I don’t think I’ll ever forget them.
You’re right about sounds too; often times they’re just distracting. Sometimes quiet is really necessary and helpful to your well-being, and I think it’s highly underutilized.
Thanks again for the comment, Sebastian. Always great to hear from you!
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Dear David; So many wise things you said there. I know when I’m up at the lake and hear the loons while working in the woods, it gives me peace like few other things do. I think the Europeans have figured out from experience that our over -connected America has valued productivity over relationships to our detriment. Keep writing and I’m going to read some comics!
Take care,
Pat